


An Autumn's Wind Gust

by Ruunkur



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: no beta we die like Glenn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:21:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25189393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ruunkur/pseuds/Ruunkur
Summary: Dimitri is eight when his father begins to renovate an old manner fallen into disrepair.
Kudos: 5





	An Autumn's Wind Gust

“Who are you?”

The child blinked, looking at the figure in the hallway. Dark blue hair cascaded over their face, the other sinking further into the shadows. The child stepped closer, blinking up at him.

“How did you get in here?”

The child swallowed, opening his mouth before he pointed a singer finger at himself, frowning. The blond haired boy nodded, smiling. “My name’s Dimitri!”

“I’m… Felix.”

Dimitri nodded, another smile crossing his features. “Why are you in my house?”

Felix gave him a shrug, looking away. “I live here.”

“But my parents and I live here. How could you also live here?”

At the age of eight, Dimitir’s father had purchased an old manner in the countryside with visions to remodel the old home. Dimitri found it an exciting adventure, while his mother just rolled her eyes and ruffled his hair, telling him it wouldn’t be that exciting.

He didn’t care.

Felix scrunched his nose up, crossing his arms over his chest and stepping out of the shadows. “I’ve lived here for centuries!”

Dimitri laughed, eyes dancing. “I’m just glad I have a friend here. I worried that I wouldn’t. You see, we moved from the city, into this manner. Dad wanted something to do in his spare time and now, I get a friend out of it!”

“I never said I would be friends with you.”

Dimitri’s smile dropped and Felix uncrossed his arms, reaching out to him. “No, wait, fine, I’ll be your friend.”

“That’s great!” Dimitri reached over, taking Felix’s hand.

“But-”

Dimitri’s face fell again and Felix looked at their connected hands.

“But… you can’t tell anyone about me, okay?” Felix tilted his head, hair falling across his face and Dimitri nodded.

“I don’t mind having a secret friend. Where are you from?”

Felix relaxed, stepping closer to Dimitri. “I grew up here, in this manner.” He cast his gaze from side to side, a smile crossing his features. “Do you want to see the secret passageways?”

Dimitri nodded, moving to follow his new friend as Felix explained the history of the manner that he knew. It had been in his family for generations, though he wasn’t sure what had happened to his parents.

The friendship built between them, even as Lambert remodeled the house. Dimitri went to school, leaving Felix behind but, with each new day, he brought something new back to him.

As Dimitri grew, so did the strange ghost that haunted the hallways. Often, Lambert would find Dimitri playing with himself, running through the fields, laughing. He showed his father the passageways Felix did, with the express promise that he was being safe.

Felix would watch from the shadows as the boy became a teenager, his own childhood shed in a manner that was hard to forget. His fingers curled in on themselves and he watched over Dimitri, even as nightmares began to plague him.

When Dimitri was fifteen, he brought a friend over for the weekend from the nearby school, leaving Felix to watch from the shadows as Dimitri showed him the different passageways, explaining how his father wanted to bring the manner back to its previous glory.

The friend, another teenager by the name of Sylvain Gautier, had only a passing interest, the pair finally disappearing into Dimitri’s bedroom while Felix retreated to his own room.

It was a place that Lambert hadn’t gotten around to remodeling yet, the room laying in decay, the door sealed shut.

It was here that Felix would spend his time, passing the days in boredom. When Dimitri’s friend finally went away, Felix reappeared, taking his spot next to Dimitri like nothing had happened.

The house, in Felix’s mind, was filled with old ghosts. New ghosts joined them, as tragedy hit the Blaiddyd family, taking Dimitri’s mother with illness, though she never returned. Felix watched in silence as the demons plagued Dimitri, a sigh leaving his lips.

He would reach out at night, fingers trembling as he pressed them against Dimitri’s temple.

Through the course of Dimitri’s highschool years, he would bring Sylvain over, the pair locked away in his room. Felix would listen, sometimes slip through the secret passageways and look into the room to see what the pair would get up to before he would disappear again, feeling the burn of Dimitri’s eyes on him.

It felt strange, as Lambert fixed up the manner, bringing new life to parts that had gone untouched for hundreds of years.

One night, over dinner between Lambert and Dimitri, during Dimitri’s eighteenth birthday, Lambert made a comment about the west wing. Here, Felix paused on the outskirts of the dining hall, his mouth watering at the sight of food he hadn’t touched in years.

“That’s where Felix lives.”

“Felix?”

Felix froze at the sound of his name, inching closer to the table. He saw Dimitri’s eyes sweep over to him and he offered him a stilted smile before he looked back at his father with a nod.

“And just who is Felix?”

Felix swallowed, shaking his head when Dimitri caught his eye and he slipped out of the dining room, unwilling to listen further.

It was one of those weekends that Sylvain came over, Lambert finally making progess on the west wing. Felix watched, studying the way the man weighed the options for what would be salvaged and what wouldn’t be.

Felix drew in a breath, watching as he came closer to the door, Dimitri and Sylvain helping along the way.

He was older now, than when he had first met Dimitri. He had learned quite a few things with his friend. The last inhabitants of this household had been during a war in the late eleven hundreds. The father of the family, with two dead sons, had fallen for a king that had gone mad.

Felix stared at the room as Lambert came upon the door, frowning at the ancient lock.

“Have you ever been this way, Dimitri?”

Dimitri looked up from where Sylvain had been showing him something on his phone, a look of confusion passing across his face. Even with his eye having been taken from him during a car accident, Felix still found him to be handsome. Even now, his hair was bound, tied back to keep it out of his face.

“Once or twice.”

Felix had, briefly, shown him a piece of the west hall. When they got too close, he had ordered Dimitri away and now, he slipped into the room, staring at it.

He remembered it well from his childhood, the grandeur that had decayed over the years. He licked his lips, turning as he heard the door lock fall to the ground. The door was shoved open and Lambert stopped, frozen in his tracks.

Felix tilted his head, eyes guarded as he took in the man. He raised a single hand, hesitant, before he dropped it.

“Felix?”

It was Dimitri that broke the silence, Felix raising his gaze to stare at the man.

“Holy shit, he’s real?” Sylvain followed up, Felix sweeping his gaze to cut into the man. He narrowed his eyes, taking a step back before he disappeared into the walls, finding an alcove to hide in, his breath shuddering.

Dimitri stared at where his friend had been before he turned to look at the skeleton chained to the wall, taking a step back. Lambert already had his phone out, placing a call.

“It would be weeks before Felix would be seen again, tense and scared even as his bones were given a proper burial right, on the grounds where they could be visited.

He visited the tombstone, staring down at it, watching the fresh flowers wilt in his presence. Behind him, Fraldarius Manner seemed to glow in a new light, the renovations that had taken years to complete finally coming together.

A hand brushed his shoulder and he turned, meeting Dimitri’s gaze.

“Did your father kill you?”

Felix considered the question, looking up at the stars. “The king we served was mad. I meant to leave this place with friends, but my father found out the plan. He locked me away, meaning to let me out. But, he died during the battle and the manner fell to ruins.”

“Then why are you still here?”

Felix lowered his gaze, meeting Dimitri’s gaze. “A young boy saw me and believed that I was real.”

“So, it’s my fault you linger here?”

Felix shook his head. “No, I…” He shrugged, his lips pressed into a thin line.

“I see.”

Felix met his gaze. “Do you?”

Dimitri hesitated, curling his fingers into Felix’s shoulder. “You were duty bound to a king, were you not?”

“And I failed in that duty, because I could not save him from the madness that festered inside of him.”

“If it weren’t for you, I would have been a very lonely child. Thank you, Felix, for being by my side.”

Felix nodded, closing his eyes. In a way, he felt lighter than he had in years. He drew in a breath, opening them to meet Dimitri’s gaze. “Thank you, Dimitri.”

“You… are you going to leave now?”

Felix swallowed, glancing back up at the stars. “I don’t believe in the goddess, but faith in my king and my family left me dead. A young boy gave me hope, however. I think…”

Dimitri’s hand dropped, falling through Felix’s shoulder. “You’re free to move on now, you’re at peace.”

“Yes, I suppose I am. Thank you, Dimitri. May your ghosts haunt you not.”

Felix stepped towards the grave, disappearing into mist. Dimitri watched him go, turning when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Sylvain smiled at him, eyes tight.

“You could have told him.”

“He suffered so much. To think, his own father…”

“Yeah, he seems to finally be at peace. Come on, Dima. There’s pizza inside and we have that new game to try.”

Dimitri nodded, turning to follow Sylvain into the manner, a warm wind blowing across the silent graveyard.


End file.
